Jake Stargel Archives - Bluegrass Today

Disturbance in the Kitchen video from Jeff Picker

Here’s an interesting live video from Nashville bassist, Jeff Picker, recorded with two of his picking buddies, Dominick Leslie on mandolin, and Jake Stargel on guitar.

In normal times, Jeff plays bass with Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder, and works sessions in and around Music City. During this down year with most live shows cancelled, he recorded an album of his own music, With The Bass In Mind, which also features contributions from Jake and Dom, along with Mike Barnett on fiddle and Cory Walker on banjo.

The tunes on the record combine Picker’s love for two unrelated musical forms, jazz and bluegrass. Awarded a full scholarship to the prestigious Manhattan School of Music, Jeff received a detailed education in modern jazz, but has been performing since primarily with folk and bluegrass artists.

But you can hear and see his jazz chops in this video for his tune, Disturbance In The Kitchen, recorded in the proverbial back yard. String bop for the 21st century.

Well done, all! When you see how comfortably these young grassers play jazz on acoustic instruments, you realize that maybe these two formats aren’t such strangers after all.

You can find With The Bass In Mind wherever you stream or download music online, or on CD from Jeff via bandcamp.

New look for The New Hip

Missy Raines has announced a number of changes with her touring group, The New Hip, and has recently signed with the Nashville-based agency Lost Buffalo Artists for representation.

The New Hip has welcomed Jake Stargel in on guitar. A veteran of several successful groups like Mountain Heart and Sierra Hull & Highway 111, Stargell brings Missy’s sound back to its acoustic roots, and his fiery flatpicking and smooth accompaniment style should be a perfect fit for her eclectic presentation.

Also new is David Benedict on mandolin, and a new stage setup where the band performs around a single microphone. Cody Martin remains on drums with Missy on bass.

Mollie Farr, principal with Lost Buffalo Artists is overjoyed to have Missy and her group with the agency.

”I couldn’t be more thrilled to have Missy Raines & the New Hip come on board with the Lost Buffalo team. Adding the group to the roster is an honor, and I can’t think of another group of musicians who so naturally fits the Lost Buffalo model and ethos.”

Here’s a recent video of them live to give a taste of their sound.

Look for Missy and the boys at the IBMA World of Bluegrass convention in Raleigh next month, where they will be performing as an invited Bluegrass Ramble showcase act. Missy has also been nominated for the organization’s Bass Player of the Year award, one she has won 7 times in the past.

Sierra Hull back in the studio

Sierra Hull is spending this early part of 2013 tracking for her third Rounder Records album. They are recording at Ben Folds’ Studio, the old RCA Studio A, designed by Chet Atkins in 1964. Vance Powell is engineering.

In just the few years she has been a professional touring artist, Sierra has earned the confidence of her label such that she is producing herself, on an a project of all original material which she has written, or co-written with Zach Bevill of Farewell Drifters.

She had two days under her belts when we caught up on Friday, tracking with Jacob Eller, Dominic Davis, Jake Stargel, Justin Moses, Cory Walker, Mike Barnett, Caleb Gilbreath and Jeremy Lutito.

Work is ongoing, and Sierra is posting photos from the sessions on her Facebook page.

Can’t wait to hear this one.

Daydreams – Cory Piatt

Young Cory Piatt is currently mandolinist with The Kenny & Amanda Smith Band. He has been playing almost half his 17 years, and has developed a stunning mastery of his instrument in this short time, as evidenced by his debut solo project, Daydreams, on Patuxent Music.

It was only a few years ago that a young Sierra Hull hit the scene, cowing mandolin players 3 and 4 times her age into submission. She was an Adan Steffey disciple, where Cory seems to have been led more by Chris Thile, who was frightening mandolinists as a teen since he hit the late ’90s.

From the opening track, you can tell that this teen is the real deal, displaying a pro’s confidence, a light touch, and a lovely, delicate tone.

Assisting in the rhythm section are Jim Van Cleve and Bryan McDowell on fiddle, Scott Vestal and Cory’s brother Owen Piatt on banjo, Mark Schatz on bass, Jake Stargell on guitar, and Randy Kohrs and Gavin Largent on reso-guitar. Even with such monster pickers surrounding him, Piatt more than holds his own throughout, trading licks with some of the best modern grassers the music can offer without missing a beat.

6 of the Daydream’s 11 tracks were written by Cory, all instrumentals. Each is a strong contribution to the contemporary repertoire, ranging stylistically from fiddle tunes, and Brazilian choro, to new acoustic romps. The only non-Piatt instrumental here is Darol Anger’s brilliant Ride The Wild Turkey, which gives everyone a chance to show off, with some jaw-dropping mandolin work.

As impressive as it is for a 17 year old to play this well, understand that Cory was just 15 when Daydreams was recorded. And the tunes he wrote for the album date back a couple of years before that. Piatt tells us that he had to have surgery on his foot when he was 13, and was bedridden that whole summer recovering. He used that time to come up with these original compositions.

The other 5 tracks are songs, but Cory stays behind his mandolin on the record, content to allow singers like Ronnie Bowman, Keith Garrett, and Brandon Bostic to tackle the vocals. New songs from Chris Harris, Jennifer Strickland, and Craig Market are included, along with a cover of country singer Kevin Denney’s That’s Just Jessie.

Daydream is quite a coming out party for this extremely talented artist, and one hopes to hear much more from Cory Piatt in years to come.

The album is available where ever bluegrass is sold, from Piatt’s web site, and via download from iTunes and Amazon.

Daydreams from Cory Piatt

Cory Piatt, the talented young mandolinist with The Kenny & Amanda Smith Band, has recently completed a solo project. Entitled Daydreams, the album will be released this summer by Patuxent Music.

Piatt tells us that he has been working on finishing this record for nearly a year, with Patuxent’s Tom Mindte producing. Six of the eleven tracks are songs/tunes which Cory wrote or co-wrote, with the material leaning towards instrumentals, with four vocals.

He put together a strong rhythm section, with March Schatz on bass and Jake Stargel on guitar. Banjo is handled by Scott Vestal and Cory’s brother Owen, with Randy Kohrs and Gaven Largent on reso-guitar. Jim VanCleve and Bryan McDowell both contributed fiddle, with Bryan also playing some guitar.

For the vocals, Cory has solicited the help of some of the biggest names in bluegrass: Ronnie Bowman, Keith Garrett, Brandon Bostic and Darren Beachley. Should be a good’n.

Here are a few photos from the tracking sessions.

Jake Stargel to Highway 111

Georgia native and expert guitarist, Jake Stargel, has joined the lineup for Sierra Hull & Highway 111.

Jake was most recently the lead guitarist for Mountain Heart. He has also had stints with other renowned bands such at The Greencards, Bearfoot, and The Lovell Sisters.

Jake not only brings his guitar prowess to the group, he also brings a vast knowledge of numerous other instruments.

Sierra reports that the personnel change is going smoothly.

“He is doing a great job so far! We’re having a blast!”

Check the Sierra Hull & Highway 111 tour schedule online for a chance to see him perform at a venue near you.

It’s here – The Speed Of Bluegrass!

Today’s the day! Our brand spanking new Bluegrass Blog theme song, The Speed Of Bluegrass, is now available as a digital single from iTunes or Amazon.com.

We commissioned Jim VanCleve last year to compose a tune that would exemplify what we do here. As expected, he did a bang up job combining the intensity of a driving bluegrass number, the quirky fun side of how we approach things, and the honoring of tradition that is such a crucial part of the bluegrass existence.

Thanks Jim!

If you missed it earlier, here’s the video that Rob Haines shot for us while the tune was going down.

Tell all your friends, and call your favorite radio station and ask them to play The Speed Of Bluegrass. Pretty please.

We’ll have some more exciting news in the next few days, so keep an eye on Bluegrass Today.

It’s here – The Speed Of Bluegrass

Today’s the day! Our brand spanking new Bluegrass Blog theme song, The Speed Of Bluegrass, is now available as a digital single from iTunes or Amazon.com.

Thanks Jim!

If you missed it earlier, here’s the video that Rob Haines shot for us while the tune was going down.

Tell all your friends, and call your favorite radio station and ask them to play The Speed Of Bluegrass. Pretty please.

We’ll have some more exciting news in the next few days, so keep an eye on Bluegrass Today.

The Speed Of Bluegrass

Your Essential Bluegrass Connection That’s our motto; that’s what we bring.

It’s also the name of a great new tune by Jim VanCleve, which we have adopted as our theme song. It will be available as a digital single on March 22.

Bluegrass Today commissioned Jim to compose and arrange a song for our theme, and to produce and record it. There was never any doubt but that he would pull a great one out of his fiddle, and he surely did. He then corralled some of the finest pickers in and around Nashville to track it.

Unsurprisingly, he chose a number of his Mountain Heart bandmates: Aaron Ramsey on mandolin, Jason Moore on bass, and Jake Stargel on guitar. He then solicited the services of Ron Block for banjo and Randy Kohrs for resonator guitar.

The Speed Of Bluegrass is a fiddle tune in three parts, showcasing a fine mix between newer and traditional bluegrass sounds – with a clever, whimsical tribute to some of the most standard licks and phrases thrown in for good measure. Here’s a taste:

The Speed Of Bluegrass: [http://traffic.libsyn.com/thegrasscast/speed_sample.mp3]

The song was recorded at Nashville’s Blackbird Studios with David Hall engineering. David and Jim did the final mix. The two of them are jolly jokers, making for a lighthearted, fun-filled time in the studio, as this video attests (shot and edited by Rob Haines).

Both a full-length track (5 minutes long) and an edited version are available to radio programmers now at AirPlay Direct. The digital single will show up in iTunes, Amazon.com and other popular online music sellers on March 22.

The Speed Of Bluegrass

Your Essential Bluegrass Connection That’s our motto; that’s what we bring.

It’s also the name of a great new tune by Jim VanCleve, which we have adopted as our theme song. It will be available as a digital single on March 22.

The Speed Of Bluegrass: [http://traffic.libsyn.com/thegrasscast/speed_sample.mp3]